The invention relates to an encased electric component having contact faces at the ends of one of the boundary surfaces of the casing.
Such an encased component is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4 417 298. A comonent having contact faces at the ends of one of the boundary surfaces, instead of contact wires as customarily used in prior art applications, is much more suitable especially with regard to mounting on printed circuit boards. This so called chip-type component is much more suitable, especially with regard to automated mounting.
According to said patent specification, the electric component, using a moulding compound, is built into a prismatic casing which is made of an electrically insulating material, which casing is open on one side, and has contact faces at the ends of one of its boundary surfaces, which contact faces are conductively connected to the ends or the electrodes of the component.
The construction of the encased component comprises a prismatic casing which consists of an electrically insulating synthetic resin. Metal coatings are applied to two opposite surfaces of the casing, which coatings consist of suitably solderable metal. These metal coatings are conductively connected to the contacts of the component which are shaped either as a supply wire, which passed through a slit in the metal-coated casing and is soldered to the metal coating, or as a bracket if it concerns a contact face, which bracket is conductively connected to the contact face of the component as well as, over the edge or through a slit in the casing, to the other metal coating on the outside of the casing, one or two sides of which is (are) open. Subsequently, the component is potted by means of a synthetic resin of the same composition as the one used for the casing or by means of another synthetic resin which is compatible as regards coefficient of expansion and bonding. The metal coatings on opposite surfaces may extend beyond the lower side and across a portion of the bottom surface. They are thus present at the ends of one boundary surface of the encased component, which is thus extremely suitable for automated mounting on a printed circuit board.